Coastal Erosion in South Korea

 

Coastal Erosion

According to Deltares, South Korea has a serious problem with erosion that not many are familiar with. Erosion is currently threatening the "coastal infrastructure and community" (Boer). Breakwaters, nourishments, and others were not able to stop the erosion. The east coast has many severe weather-related events, and with South Korea receiving typhoons and such, it is hard to find a framework that can combat the different scales. 

According to the Journal of Coastal Research, the coastal erosion that has occurred in South Korea mainly because of the port and harbor development. They have even created artificial reefs so they can absorb the waves, but so far it is just creating new openings for erosion to occur as the strength of the waves is making it hard for the reef to absorb. "This study suggests a new countermeasure for coastal erosion by controlling wave energy differentiated by incident wave, wave direction control method (WDCM) to prevent the critical coastal erosion expected from a massive harbor expansion project, planned along the east coast of Korea" (Kang, An).

Works Cited: 

Boer, Wiebe de. “Combat Coastal Erosion at the South Korean East Coast.” Combat Coastal Erosion at the South Korean East Coast, Deltares, 19 July 2017, www.deltares.nl/en/news/combat-coastal-erosion-at-the-south-korean-east-coast/.

Kang, Yoonkoo, and Seunghyun An. “Development of New Coastal Erosion Countermeasure Using Wave Energy Control Method.” Journal of Coastal Research, Coastal Education and Research Foundation, 1 May 2018, bioone.org/journals/journal-of-coastal-research/volume-85/issue-sp1/SI85-304.1/Development-of-New-Coastal-Erosion-Countermeasure-Using-Wave-Energy-Control/10.2112/SI85-304.1.full.